The E-Sylum:  Volume 6, Number 51, November 30, 2003, Article 7

REPUBLIC COIN SALVAGE REPORT

  Arthur Shippee forwarded a link to an article in today's
  New York Times about salvage from the wreck of the
  steamship Republic.  Here are some excerpts:

  "It lay in darkness at the bottom of the Atlantic for more than
  a century, guarded only by the occasional shark. Now, the
  150-year-old steamship has a visitor: a robot bristling with
  lights, cameras and mechanical arms that is picking its way
  through the wreckage, hauling up a fortune in gold and silver
  coins, eventually perhaps 30,000 of them.

  The ship is the Republic, which sailed from New York in
  1865, just after the Civil War, carrying 59 passengers and
  crew and a mixed cargo meant to help New Orleans recover
  from the war. About 100 miles off Georgia, battling a hurricane,
  it sank in waters a third of a mile deep.

  Its cargo of lost coins, experts say, may now be worth up to
  $150 million..."

  "... Odyssey Marine Exploration of Tampa, Fla., announced the
  find in August and said it hoped to retrieve the coins. Today it is
  announcing that the treasure is real and is detailing its findings.
  So far, the company has retrieved more than 1,600 gold and
  silver coins. None are dated later than 1865, tending to confirm
  the wreck's identity, said Greg Stemm, the company's director
  of operations.

  "For some reason, even the silver coins are in great condition,"
  said Mr. Stemm, 46. "Part of it is surely the physical environment
  down there."  The icy deep, explorers are finding, can often
  preserve objects, even precious metals like silver that normally
  corrode easily."

  "Early this month, the team had the robot vacuum away sand
  from where the cache was believed to lie. A few coins appeared,
  then more. "They followed it like a trail of bread crumbs," Mr.
  Stemm said, "and came upon a cascade of gold coins."

  To date, the company has recovered more silver than gold.
  "That caught us by surprise," Mr. Stemm said. He said Odyssey
  expected to find gold coins because silver was scarce in the
  Republic's day. Mr. Stemm noted that most of the coins they
  are finding now are gold.

  Once numismatic experts have inspected the recovered coins,
  the company plans to release reports on their number,
  condition and value."

  For the full article, see:
  http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/30/national/30SHIP.html

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization 
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor 
at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum